Craftsmanship Hard-wired
YARD NEWS . BOATBUILDER’S NOTES . TOOLS
Nigel Gray not only rigs boats, including the Cutty Sark, he demonstrates and teaches the craft, as Mike Smylie learned
N
igel Gray exudes calmness. I was once told that potters never commit suicide because of their placidity and I think the same must be the case for riggers. Whether Nigel
throws a wobbler in a storm I don’t know but doubt it, on the basis of a first impression when I met him at Holyhead recently. It was the ease with which he worked that was noticeable. We were both displaying our wares, so to speak, at the maritime festival there, he with the sincerity of a bishop on Christmas Day. Maybe it was his Geordie accent but more likely it was the attention to detail he was espousing about splicing. Both were equally charming as he explained each tuck. “The first ones are the critical. Where the thimble is used the first tuck must cross the throat from side to side, followed by the second strand.” With a twist and a thrust the wire eased its way through the gap just at the point that I thought it couldn’t possible go through. “Then strands three and four are tucked up to the top of the splice,” he continued, fingers dancing delicately upon the wire as he spoke. “The core is then incorporated. This is important to pack out the strands. Strands five and six are then taken up, followed by returning to the first and second and taking them
“Most tools are made by the rigger. They have to be”
up the required number of tucks.” And there, in a matter of minutes, we had it. How to splice wire! It all seemed so easy, and the finished splice so neat. The crowd he’d gathered by then dissipated towards other exhibits, which gave me a chance to ask a few questions. We sneaked off to get some coffee. Nigel has been rigging for over ten years though says
Above: Blade spike and wire heaving mallet
Opposite, from left: In the splicing vice; serving tools; fourth strand going in
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he’s only been professional for six. He’s been around a bit, jobwise – sheet-metal worker; fishing out of the Tyne; sailing various workboats; shipwright on the cog built specially for the Robin Hood film.
He’d learned the basic skills of splicing whilst at sea – after he left fishing and decided to continue his interest in rigging, the main thing was to improve, as he had always felt that he could not get the quality of finish he wanted. As he put it, “I went late in life to learn it.” Learning meant contacting a number of companies until he was given the chance to work with Ken Lodge at TS Rigging
CLASSIC BOAT MARCH 2012
in Maldon. Over the years other highly skilled people have helped him along his path such as John ‘Lofty’ Barber, Steve Waters and Bill Dye, and Nigel always seems to be full of praise for them and others. I asked what seemed the obvious question: what made a perfect splice? The answer seemed equally obvious: will it hold? I guessed aesthetics has to come second. But on a traditional boat an ugly mess of a splice will be spotted before it has time to fail. So both are vital? “Yep, appearance comes second. Symmetrical, smooth and well tapered with no bumps or lumps. Then a tight serving with the correct size of marline or spun yarn with all the voids filled in with tallow or grease.” The attention to detail in his demonstrations is no doubt a big part of the courses he runs in the basics of rigging. As he puts it, one, two or three days’ experience are enough to learn rigging in its simplest form. He usually teaches on a one-to-one (sometimes two) basis, in his own workshop or on location with his mobile rigging bench. He showed me some of his tools, a few of which he had just got hold of from a rigger who used to work on the London River. “The tools are the key to success,” he declared. “Most things for rigging are made or designed by the rigger. They have to be. As an example, most of the
available spikes on the market don’t have a suitable taper, and serving tools are inevitably made by hand from whatever is around at the time. He’s worked on Thames barges, Essex smacks, northeast fishing boats – and currently the Cutty Sark. The basis of rigging, in its simplest form, is that it is a process by which the masts stay upright and thus enable the sails to work. But, like most other things especially in the maritime world, it’s a trade which calls for an eye for detail and a huge amount of patience.
Is strength necessary? “It helps,” he answered, “but
it’s technique that counts for a lot more. If a strand will not pull through the gap that the spike has made there’s no point pulling like hell. It’s usually more than just the hole not being big enough, and the experienced rigger will spot the problem straight away.”
Nigel Gray, tel +44 (0) 7940-438250
TOOLS BY MIKE SMYLI, NIGEL GRAY BY EMILY HARRIS
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